


Run To You

by dinosaurApocalypse



Category: Benjaminutes - Fandom, The Riftdale Chronicles (Web Series)
Genre: dad is only mentioned like once, gotta love that father son cop duo, yall are gonna hate me for this lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-17 08:09:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16091549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinosaurApocalypse/pseuds/dinosaurApocalypse
Summary: For Smith's sake. At least that's what he tells himself. It's all for Smith, and not to fill that void in his heart with someone who needs him.Chief swears to protect Smith. He loves his partner.





	Run To You

**Author's Note:**

> you should listen to the song! It sets the mood, I think ;D
> 
> song used: Run to You- Pentatonix

_A light in the room_   
_It was you who was standing there_   
_Tried it was true_   
_As your glance met my stare_

        Chief has been on the force for years, probably coming up on twenty at this point, when a baby-faced kid named Smith joins the police force. The kid's wide eyed and bushy tailed, pure and innocent, and there's no way on God's gray Earth that he'd make it very long on the force with his belief that everyone is worth saving. There's no way this kid would make it as a cop. If it didn't kill him literally, it'd change him, scar him. He'd be just like Chief.

        Something in Chief wants to save this kid; this kid who's young enough to be his son and as innocent as a damn child. There is something about him that makes Chief's heart tug and ache in a way that he isn't used to anymore, like a proud father scared of losing his only son. He has to remind himself many times that Smith isn't his, but fuck if he doesn't want to protect this kid with his life, so he assigns himself to be Smith's partner.  _For Smith's sake_. At least that's what he tells himself. It's all for Smith, and not to fill that void in his heart with someone who needs him.

        Smith is, surprisingly, a pretty damn good cop and the best partner Chief's ever had, if a little frustrating at times with his too good heart and his stupid fucking puns. Chief could live without them, but they make Smith happy, so he does his best to keep his complaints about them to a minimum. He knows the kid has him wrapped around his finger, but Chief can't help wanting the kid to be safe and happy for as long as possible, so he tolerates the puns, despite his complaining about them. That is, until they start coming true.

        For their safety, Chief has to make Smith stop with the puns. He doesn't want the kid to get hurt or hurt someone else; not only would that actually fucking suck with paperwork, but Smith would be devastated if he had caused anyone to get hurt by trying to make them laugh. Sometimes, though, Chief catches Smith making puns without meaning to, and sometimes they're not even puns, but the world changes around them to make it fit. Smith looks more scared each time this happens, and it tugs at Chief's heart to see that expression on his  ~~boy's~~  partner's face. He'd do anything to make him unafraid, to keep him safe.

        "Smiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiith."

        "Chiiiiiiiiiiiiiief!"

         **Bang.**

        Chief can't believe what just happened. Smith's puns were annoying, ridiculous, and even almost killed him once or twice, but this was.. a new thing entirely. Smith pointed his gun at Chief, and Chief, panicked, shot him. He shot his boy, his partner, the one person he swore he'd never let anything bad happen to ever again. He was supposed to keep Smith  _safe_ , yet he was the one who  _shot_ him, who  _killed_ him, who-

        Smith is alive. That's what the doctors are telling him. Smith's alive, he's okay, and that makes Chief want to cry in relief when no one else is watching him. The next news, however, that's what makes Chief break down in tears, not caring who might be watching at the moment. Smith lost his eye. Chief shot his eye out. He's permanently blind on one side. But he's alive. He might hate Chief for this, but he's alive. They're both alive.

        To Chief, that's everything. Smith is alive.

_But your heart drifted off_   
_Like the land split by sea_   
_I tried to go, to follow_   
_To kneel down at your feet_

        Chief's there, in the hospital, with Smith the entire time. He sits by the bed, paces around the room, watches and waits for his partner to wake up. It doesn't take too long, and when Smith's coherent enough to understand what's going on around him, Chief tells him what happened. His heart hurts just watching realization dawn on Smith's face; his heart breaks when Smith gently touches the bandage covering the place his eye used to be. It's all Chief's fault. Smith must know that, right? Will the kid ever forgive him for this?

        As it turns out, yes, he will. It takes time, far too much yet far too little. Chief can't decide if he'd rather Smith stay far away from him or be closer. He's not sure if he's being selfish or not. Is he putting Smith in danger? Is he making it so Smith can't actually leave if he wanted to? That probably hurts worse than the knowledge that Smith is closing himself off to him. The thought that he's forcing Smith to stay, that he's making the kid feel obligated to stay. Maybe he should talk to him.

        The way Smith lights up when he sees Chief makes him hurt all over again, the need to protect him even stronger now. He has to protect this sunshine smile and pure ball of love from the cruel, soul crushing hands of the world. He has to protect Smith from him. He just wants Smith to forgive him. Knowing Smith, he already has, but Chief feels like he doesn't deserve it, not yet. He has to deserve it. He isn't sure how he's going to make up for this.

_I'll run, I'll run, I'll run, run to you  
        I'll run, I'll run, I'll run, run to you_

        They're working a case together, like always, and Smith's being.. Smith, like always. Goofy, smiley, happy Smith in an environment he has no business being around, anyway. There's a dead guy, an apparently not-dead-just-passed-out other guy, and so much cocaine it'd make the Coca-Cola factory's head spin. You know, when it was still used in coke. It's not anymore.

        There's something odd about this house, though, and Smith is the first to point it out. Everything is colorful. Well, he doesn't say it like that, bless him, but he asks the now awake guy why he's colored.  _Smith, what the fuck is wrong with you? You can't just ask someone why they're colored! Why would you even think that's remotely acceptable in any case ever?_

         **Bang!**

Add that to the list of things Smith isn't allowed to do. Don't just shoot guns willy-nilly, just because the guy said he faints when he hears loud noises! God damn it, Smith. Chief just takes the gun ( _why does he even have that anyway?),_ and shakes his head. Leave it to Smith to do something incredibly stupid and childish. This case keeps getting stranger and stranger.

        Are there drugs in the air vents? There's got to be drugs in the air vents, and everyone's having some intense kind of hallucination. Can people even hallucinate the same thing? Is that a thing that can happen? Because there's a god damn talking  _cat_ , and Smith sees it, and so do these three other people. Chief's getting too old for this. That cat keeps talking. It shouldn't be saying anything!

        Well, now, apparently, that situation's handled, but Chief and Smith are trapped in a universe that clearly isn't their own. For one, they're gray and nothing else is if they're not touching it; for two, it seems like this place is set in the future. There's absolutely no way any of this is from their own time or universe. People are speaking into small boxes! Cars are bigger, louder... more? Everything is different. Chief's head is spinning, but his goal never changes, never waivers. He'll keep Smith safe here too. He will. Even if it kills him.

_I've been settling scores_   
_I've been fighting so long_   
_But I've lost your war_   
_And our kingdom is gone_

        This world, this town (Riftdale, he's learned it's called. A town called Riftdale) is a strange place, and this is beyond everything he's already acknowledged. He's had to yell at the commissioner to allow Smith to work in the force, under the catch that Chief will never be promoted. He can live with that. He can. What he can't live with is the look of devastation on Smith's face when he was told he couldn't be a cop anymore. No, Chief can't handle that look. He'd do anything to make his boy happy. So he does. He'll make sure Smith can be a cop, a damn good cop, and put all doubts out of the commissioner's and anyone else's heads. Smith's a damn good cop, and he'll prove it to them.

        Riftdale is even stranger than Chief originally thought. No, not just strange, corrupt down to its very core. How can a man like The Priest- a vile, cruel, drug fueled  _monster_ , truly the scum of the Earth- how can a man like him roam free, untouched, even forgotten about until the next time he commits a crime? They discuss him in a meeting just before lunch, but no one else remembers him when they come back. It seems like only Smith and Chief are serious about catching this guy. Chief would much sooner rather put a bullet between this guy's eyes, but Smith seems determined to save him. Chief doesn't have the heart to tell him that not all people can be saved. Smith's determination makes Chief believe even he can be saved, then he looks at the eyepatch on his boy's face and remembers that he's beyond hope too.

        The Priest gets more dangerous each day. He's taken a hostage, killed people, runs scams. He's a trigger happy monster, the boogeyman, the thing parents check their kids' closets for just in case. How is he allowed to still be alive, much less terrorize the city? Why is no one else acknowledging him but Chief and Smith? Is there something going on? Who is he kidding, of course there is, and maybe it's going to take more than just two gray outsiders to change this town, but damn it he will try. He looks at Smith and all thoughts of changing the world melt away, fear gripping him and turning him cold. If he does anything, or tries to, would they hurt his boy in retaliation? Which is worse, though, letting Smith live in a corrupt world, or him getting hurt because they tried to change it?

        Chief can't even hold a gun anymore without being reminded of how he hurt Smith. Every time he touches his weapon, he sees Smith laying there, surrounded by a pool of his own blood, and he feels the terror and hopelessness all over again. He swallows hard and puts the gun down, vowing that he'll use it again, one day, but not today. Not today, when Smith's hurt is still so raw in both of their minds. However, his hesitance means Smith has to step up. Maybe this is what Smith needs to prove to everyone that he can be an excellent cop. Maybe this could be a good thing.

        He makes Smith promise that, if The Priest can not be talked down, Smith will shoot him. Smith hesitates but gives his word, but Chief doesn't feel much better about any of this. The Priest would kill Smith in a heartbeat, Chief knows this, but Smith seems determined that nothing will happen. Maybe he's right. He hopes Smith's right. He hopes he didn't just sign the kid's death warrant.

        A simple domestic dispute, shouldn't be too hard to handle, though the house they pull into looks abandoned save for the lights that shine through the curtains. Someone clearly doesn't know how to take care of their house. He knocks, and a familiar face answers the door.  _Huh. Wasn't this kid on vacation?_

Things escalate pretty quickly, somehow, and now Smith's got a gun pointed at The Priest and vice versa. If the situation wasn't so serious, Chief would roll his eyes at how Smith's handling this. Okay, scratch that, he's rolling his eyes anyway.  _What the fuck, Smith? Red light? Seriously?_

      Smith's way isn't working. He tried and failed, so why isn't he shooting? He can't seriously be this determined, right? Fuck.

      "Smiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiith."

      "Chiiiiiiiiiiiiiief!"

       **Bang!**

    "Chief... I'm sorry..."

      _How shall I win back_  
 _Your heart which was mine_  
 _I have broken bones and tattered clothes_  
 _I've run out of time_

      Smith is dead. Chief's ears are ringing, his head spinning, his heart aching. He's been in the waiting room for twelve hours, waiting for a sign that his boy's going to be okay. It never comes.

      "Can I say goodbye to him?"

      Smith is dead. Chief takes a limp, lifeless hand in his own, shaky ones, squeezing and praying that this is just a cruel joke, a nightmare, that Smith is okay. His prayers go unheard, story of his life. They always go unheard.

      Chief gives his boy a final squeeze, readjusts the eyepatch, gives him a kiss to the hairline. He's too late, always too late, and he only wishes he told him these things when he was still alive to hear them.

      "I love you."

  _I'll run, I'll run, I'll run, run to you_  
 _I'll run, I'll run, I'll run, run to you_  
 _Whoa, oh, oh_

      Police report submitted, autopsy report poured over. Funeral seen, flask thrown. Everything's been a blur, but Chief knows one thing for sure.

      He's going to get The Priest or die trying. Either way, he wins. Either way, someone will pay for Smith's death. His boy, his precious boy, dead, gone. Because of him.

_I will break down the gates of heaven  
      A thousand angels stand waiting for me_

      It takes Chief months, but he finally finds The Priest. Easy enough once he discovered a pattern, along with something interesting. It seems The Priest went back to a routine he had nearly a year ago. A few months before Smith died.

      Someone tries to stop him. Someone who claims to be his dad and Christian's- that's The Priest's name, apparently, but Chief won't see him as anything less than a monster who deserves to be killed. He's a rabid animal that needs to be put down. If that guy knows what's good for everyone, he'll let Chief finish this. Dad, or whoever he is, doesn't seem to actually put in the effort to stop him. Maybe he understands what it's like to have everything ripped away from you. Maybe something else is going on. He hears the guy say something about Her before leaving, but Chief doesn't care. He's so close. He'll be able to see Smith again, after this. It'll be over soon.

      This guy, this  _monster,_ doesn't even have the audacity to remember what he's done! He doesn't remember killing Smith! He doesn't even care! It's like Smith means nothing to anyone but Chief, and damn that bastard for even daring to forget the most important thing to Chief.

_Oh, take my heart and I'll lay down my weapons  
      Break my shackles to set me free_

Chief and The Priest stand in the middle of a mostly empty room, guns pointed at each other, and the silence between them is so thick it could be cut with a spoon. Eyes narrowed, teeth gritted, insults hissed out and fingers on triggers. Neither are sure who will shoot first, but neither care. To Chief, someone will pay. To Christian, he wins either way.

       **Bang!**

_I'll run, I'll run, I'll run, run to you  
      I'll run (I'll run), I'll run (I'll run), I'll run, run to you_

      The first thing Chief is aware of is that he's laying on his back. The next thing he realizes is that it's warm and bright, too warm and bright for the inside of a house. What happened?

      Then he remembers the guns going off, a white hot pain in his chest, then nothing. Was that what Smith had felt? Is Chief dead? If he's dead, why does he feel like someone's holding his hand?

      Chief opens his eyes. A familiar smiling face is watching him, holding his hand, and Chief wants to cry. He does, in fact, cry. He's met with the bright smile he once swore to protect.

      "Hi Chief!"

      "Smith?"

      "Let's go home, Chief."


End file.
